Media Monitoring Africa (“MMA”) provides this submission on the Draft Films and Publications Amendment Regulations, 2020 (“the Draft Regulations”), in response to the call for submissions published by the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies (“the Minister”). The Draft Regulations raise issues on which MMA has been consistently engaged, including through the following work:

1.1.  In April 2016, MMA hosted a multi-stakeholder workshop focused on the regulation of digital content. Through this workshop, one of the core aims was to deepen an understanding of the issues by and between the relevant stakeholders, and further establish areas of commonality and principle agreement.

1.2.  In May 2016, MMA prepared a written submission on the Films and Publications

Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) welcomes the opportunity to provide this submission to ARTICLE 19 on the consultation paper regarding Social Media Councils (SMCs). At the outset, MMA wishes to acknowledge the consultative approach taken by ARTICLE 19, as this will serve to ensure that the consultation paper is ultimately more robust and better able to meet its intended objectives.